Radeon Video Drivers

If you have become frustrated by the somewhat poorly maintained ati-drivers (the closed source video drivers for AMD cards) or if you would rather use open source video drivers, this is the package for you. This page outlines how to install and configure the open source xf86-video-ati drivers.

Preparation

Check to see if your card is an AMD card

If you do not know if you have an AMD graphics card or not, you can run the following command:

# lspci | grep VGA

If the output produces information that contains something like "01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Pitcairn PRO [Radeon HD 7850]," then you have an AMD graphics card and continue to the next step in the install process. If lspci does not provide you with something like this, and instead contains intel or nvidia, read about installing drivers for those elsewhere on the wiki.

Preparing the kernel

Now that you know you have an AMD graphics card, you can prepare the kernel for xf86-video-ati. Begin by ensuring that MTRR is enabled, then enable support for AGP graphics cards (only necessary if your card sits in an AGP slot -- not a PCIe one). After enabling AGP (if you needed it), you should enable support for the DRM and modesetting on radeon.: